July10,2007

U.S. Rep. Adam Smith (D-Wash.) today issued the following statement on the President’s failed Iraq escalation, which was announced six months ago today:

“Six months ago, President Bush announced a plan to increase troop levels in Iraq with assurances that we would hold the Iraqi government to a set of concrete benchmarks for progress. Today, press reports indicate that the administration’s upcoming report will say that Iraq’s government has failed to achieve a single benchmark.

“We are spending $10 billion a month on a strategy that has failed to achieve its stated goals. Further, it has magnified the terrorist threat to our country, providing al-Qaeda fertile ground for recruitment, training, and financing. We cannot continue on the abysmal course the President has charted in Iraq.

“Over the coming weeks, Congressional Democrats will continue to pressure holdout Republicans to end their misguided support of the President’s failed Iraq policies. I encourage my colleagues on the other side of the aisle to join Democrats in our efforts to chart a new direction in Iraq that includes the redeployment of our forces in the region.”